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SHELDON, Paul M illard, n.d.
THE DEVELOPMENT AND CHARACTERISTICS OF A
GROUP OF CHILDREN WHO TEST AT OR ABOVE 170
IQ ON THE 1937 REVISION OF THE STANFORD-
BINET SCALE
New York University, Ph.D., 1951
Education, tests and measurements
Xerox University Microfilms, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48io6
i
; v
Sponsoring Committeet Professor Harvey W. Zorbaugh,,
Professor Charles E‘, Skinner, and Associate ^ 2-0
Professor Rhea^K. Boardman ^ -
v 'C
the'DEVELOPMENT AMD, CHARACTERISTICS OF4 A GROJP, OF . >
CHILDREN WHO TEST AT OR ABOVE 170 M ON THE -■ - «
1937 REVISION OF, THE 'STANFORD-BINET SCAIE
' < ' PAUL MILLAHD SHELDON
; r ri‘r ' ^ - '
Submitted ih partial-fulfillm ent" >of the
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This investigation was a logical outgrowth of years of work
by experience of many people at the Counseling Center for Gifted
Children of the New York University School of Education* Because the
launching and proseoution of so ambitious a project would have been
impossible without this earlier work and the cooperation of these and
a number of other people, the investigator offers his thanks first to
Harvey W* Zorbaugh, Professor and Chairman of the Department of
Sooiology and Director of the Counseling Center for Gifted Children,
and to former staff members who laid the groundwork on which the
research program was based* Thanks are also due to the School of
Education of New York University for the use of equipment and
facilities*
I am especially grateful to the11 subjeots of the investiga
tion and to their parents for their splendid cooperation in permitting
themselves to be used as participants in research and for spending
many hours being interviewed, tested,;examined and otherwise subjected
to most intimate scrutiny* Family friends and relatives who added
data and opinions also gave valuable aid* The investigator is deeply
indebted to all of these persons*
Various members of the staff of Hunter College gave invalu
able help from the opening meeting throughout the three year period of
the investigation* Especially, I express gratitude to Florenoe
Brumbaugh, Ph* D*, principal of Hunter College Elementary School, and
to UioE Helen Travin, of her staff* for their complete cooperation.
Dr* Brumbaugh attended the organisational meeting in 1947* gave the
benefit of her years of training and experience in the handling of
gifted ohildren by offering advice and suggestions about the setting
up of the project, and furnished many names of prospective subjeots*
Approximately half of the subjects selected were or had been students
in her school* Aocess was granted to the school, students, and staff
immediately upon request and often at some inconvenienoe* All records
were made available* No praise would be too high for the oomplete
oooperation given to the project by Dr. Brumbaugh*
Frank T* Wilson* Ph. D.* Coordinator of Research for Hunter
College Elementary School and Professor of Psyohology at Hunter
College, also attended the opening meeting and subsequently administered
examinations and permitted aooess to records of earlier examinations*
Other psychologists who were equally helpful in the testing program
were* Brian Tomlinson, Ph* D«, Professor, and Avrun Ben-Avi* Ph. D.,
Assistant Professor, of the Department of Psyohology, Sohool of Educa
tion, Hew York University! and Harold Ahelson, Ph. D., Professor of
Education, Chairman of the Department of Psychology and Director of the
Psycho-Educational Clinio of the College of the City of New York, who
searched his records, furnished lis ts and results of tests, and made
physical and psychological studies o f the subjects who had passed
through his olinic*
Two other investigations were being oonduoted simultaneously
with this one and inoluded some of the same subjects* Miss Leona
Kerstetter was compiling data on the results of soeiometrio tests ad
ministered to approximately 500 sohool ohildren in an effort to deter
mine by this method the degree of aooeptanoe or rejection of highly
i i i
gifted ohildren by their fellow classmates* Mr. Kalman Selig was ad
ministering Rorschach oards to and conduoting exploratory interviews
with approximately 40 ohildren whose scores on the 1937 Revision of
the Stanford-Binet Scale gave them IQ's of 160 or higher, including
26 of the 28 subjeots of this investigation* Although work had not
been completed on these projects at the time of writing up the results
of the present investigation, both Miss Kerstetter and Mr* Selig made
available to the investigator the raw data which they had oompiled and
gave fu ll oooperation in making it of maximum usefulness through giv
ing their preliminary interpretations* This cooperation was extremely
helpful and merits sincerest gratitude*
For their work in an advisory capacity in developing the
pediatrician'b report form as well as for the many hours spent in ex
amining subjects, the investigator is indebted to Lawrenoe M* Shapiro,
M*D*, Pediatric Consultant to HUnter College Elementary Sohool, and
Harry E* Bakwin, M.D*, Professor of Pediatrics at the New York Univer
sity Sohool of Medicine* Dr* Shapiro also volunteered to act as pedi
atric oonsultant to the research project and rendered excellent service
by devising and sending out cover and follow-up letters on the report
forms and compiling height and weight comparisons with the norm, based
on somatotype measurements*
Dr* 8hapiro was assisted by Miss Elaine Shor, R*N*, a field
work student at the New York University Sohool of Education, who
arranged and oonduoted personal interviews with those family physicians
and pediatricians who failed to return the report forms*
Vf* H* Sheldon, M*D*, Ph*D*, Director, C* W* Dupertuis, Ph*D*,
and Miss Barbara Hirsoh, of the Constitution Laboratory of the
Columbia University Medioal Sohool, gave their time and sk ill and
iv
the facilities of their laboratory for taking photographs, making
physical measurements, compiling age-height-weight figures, and soma-
totyping the subjeots* It is hoped that some benefit w ill accrue to
the laboratory and its staff from this splendid and helpful piece of
work*
Exploratory psychiatric interviews were conducted with the
subjects and with their parents, when the latter wished, by Lauretta
Bender, 11. D., Director, Children’s Division, New York University**
Bellevue Medical Center Psychiatric Clinic, and Ralph Rabinovitch,M*D* ,
then of the same staff but presently Director of the Children’s Divi
sion, Neuro-Psychiatric Department, University Hospital, University of
Michigan* In addition to their having conducted these interviews, I
am indebted to Dr* Bender and Dr* Rabinovitch for their reviews of case
history material, analyses, and for the hours of consultation whioh
were most valuable in furthering an understanding of each of the sub
jects interviewed*
Mrs. Christine Robb Thompson, MSS, gave the benefit of her
training and experience in psychiatric social work by reviewing, sum
marising, end evaluating the case histories of subjects not seen by the
psychiatrists and in the preparation of social histories* Since Mrs*
Robb was an expert in this field her work was invaluable in the sum
marizing of the individual cases as well as in making over-all summar
ies, conclusions, hypotheses, and recommendations for future research*
The principals, headmasters, and teachers in schools attended
by the subjects were extremely oooperative and gave all possible help
toward the successful compilation of data on these subjeots* I am es
pecially grateful for their cooperation in arranging for and permitting
the administration of Haggerty-01 son-Wickman Behavior Rating Soales,
v
for excusing subjects for tests and examinations during school hours
when necessary, and for making records available to interviewers and
field workers*
Approximately twenty students at the New York University
School of Education, including graduates taking courses in field work
and seniors in the pre-professional social work curriculum, rendered
many hours of excellent service in summarizing records, doing various
clerioal jobs, chaperoning and guiding subjeots and their parents,
arranging for tests and interviews, administering and scoring Califor
nia Personality and Stanford Achievement Tests, arranging for teaohers
to fill out Haggerty-01 son-Wickman Behavior Rating Scales, and doing
many other b its of hand and foot work neoessary to the smooth func
tioning of so extensive a program* Outstanding assistance was given
by the following: Viotor Balaban, Joseph Botka, Maurice Downey, Mary
h
Gambon (Mrs* Edward Bernasco), Ann Jaffe, Sarah (Mrs* John) Bussell,
Dorothy She&han, and Naomi Smith* In addition to doing all of the
things indicated above, these students also helped in the taking and
recording of family and developmental histories*
I am especially grateful to Miss Michellina Magenza, Secre
tary of the Counseling Center for Gifted Children of New York Univer
sity, and Miss Elizabeth Rogers for doing the bulk of the voluminous
stenographic urork, as well as for many other jobs which facilitated
the progress of the research and the subsequent reoording of data.
Finally, to Professors Harvey W, Zorbaugh, Chairman, Rhea E*
v/
Boardman, Ph*D*, Brian Tomlinson, Ph*D*, and Charles W* Skinner, Ph*D*,
of the Sohool of Education, New York University, the members of my
committee, I express my most profound thanks for their advice, criti
cism, and inspiration. Additional thanks are due to Dr* Boardman as
Director of the Pre-Professional Social Tlfork Curriculum, for making
available and supervising her students and giving the benefit of her
training and experience in that oapacity.
It is the hope of the investigator that the results of
this investigation w ill be of sufficient significance to justify the
expenditure of sk ills, time, effort, and inspiration of these many
highly trained, busy people. I am deeply grateful to all of them.
Paul 11. Sheldon
Occidental College
Los Angeles 41, California
February 1, 1951
vii
C O N T E N T S
PART X 1 - 8 0
Chapter
1. The Problem.............................................................. 1 - 7
2. History of Research on Gifted Children •••• 8 - 2 9
3. Summary of Previous Research on
Children with IQ 170 and Above....................... 30-1*8
1*. Procedures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .............................. 1*9-80
PART II RESULTS OF THE INVESTIGATION 81 - 89$
$• The Case of Gregory ................ 82 - 122
6. The Case of lis a ................ 123 - 1$$
7. The Case of P hyllis................................................1$6 - 189
8. The Case of Cora •.............................................. 190 - 21$
9. The Case of Edith •.............. 216 - 238
10. The Case of Gerald ................................ 239 - 270
11. The Case of Harold ...................................... 271 - 301*
12. The Case of Lois .................................30$ - 332
13. The Case of Mary......................................................333 - 3$9
11*. The Case of E llen.................. 36O - 389
1$. The Case of Peter................................................. 390 - 1*26
16. The Case of Robert 1*27 - 1*$6
17. The Case of Richard...............................................1*$7 - 1*93
18. The Case of George.................................................1*91* - $23
19. The Case of Vichy............................................... 521* - $1*1*
20. The Case of Kenneth $1*5 - $80
21. The Case of Dorothy ...........................................581 - 619
22. The Case of Blanche •••••...............» 620 - 6$2
23. The Case of Peggy................................................. 6$3 - 677
21*. The Case of Ruth 678 - 707
